MO Review / 2025 CFMOTO Ibex 450

When we were at AIMEXPO in February, the CFMOTO 450 Ibex was the hottest bike in the building. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get to the launch in the Philippines, but Ryan Adams from Motorcycle.com did! He’s reported back with photos and a detailed ride review, which you can see below.

Here’s a quick overview of the bike’s tech specs, in case you need the reminder:

We’ve already had peeks at the Ibex 450, aka the 450MT, when it was released in other markets, but now we have the straight dope on the US-market bike’s specs. CFMOTO says the 449 cc liquid-cooled twin (with 270-degree crank) makes 44 hp at 8,500 rpm and 32.5 lb-ft of torque at 6,250 rpm in its US configuration. Roughly the same output as the old 650-class singles (a bit less torque), from a machine weighing 386 lb dry. For the sake of reference, that’s about 25 lb more than the dry weight of a Kawasaki Versys-X 300.

The rest of the bike has some pretty attractive points. Spoked rims with tubeless tires are standard, with 21-inch front and 18-inch rear. Suspension relies on an inverted fork from KYB, with damping adjustment. In back, there’s a linkage-type shock with damping and preload adjustability, and external gas reservoir. The bike has 8 inches of travel front and rear.

CFMOTO went with J Juan brakes, including a four-pot front caliper with opposed-piston design clamping down on a 320 mm disc. In back, a single-pot floating caliper is mated to a 240 mm disc. Dual-channel Bosch ABS is standard, and it’s switchable from the handlebar, in case you want to slide around the rear end in the gravel instead of having the electro-safety features kick in. Traction control is standard as well, and can also be switched off.

You can see the rest of our initial AIMEXPO write-up here; below, see Ryan’s comments in the photo captions.

: Ryan notes that this test ride took place at an “island pace.” Most of the time, they were off-pavement, and the street riding was mostly under 60 mph. However, those conditions are realistic for adventure travel in the real world.

: Tubeless cross-spoked rims are a rarity at this end of the price spectrum. Ryan reckons some off-roaders may prefer tubed tires anyway, but for most travel-minded ADVers, this is the way to go.

: Brakes are by J Juan, so you’d think they’d be competent. Alas, Ryan says “The front brake basically has all of the feel of a Novocain-dosed lab rat.” The good news is, this is the sort of thing that can be easily remedied on a year-over-year model update.

: The clutch feel is similarly lacking in feedback, says Ryan.

: The engine, the same 450 twin that CFMOTO uses in its street lineup, lacks low-end grunt. But Ryan says once he learned to keep it in its mid-range sweet spot, the P-twin had enjoyable, smooth power output, like a mini-Tenere.

: Ryan says the engine will do the slow-speed uphill chugging that you need, or work for more spirited fun on flat ground: “While the rear brake has a bit much initial bite, it was astonishingly easy to initiate a drift by locking the rear wheel, and then carry it through on the throttle. Folks who ride off-road know how good it feels when a corner comes together perfectly like that. So, surely it was luck. Except it happened every time. With the bike spun up past 5,000 rpm, the power feeds in smoothly and is easily managed with your right wrist.”

: The bike’s chassis seemed to handle well on the street, although side-to-side turning was a bit slow, maybe because of that large front wheel. A 21-inch front does have its drawbacks. But the wide handlebar helped move the bike around with a bit more snap.

: As always, styling is subjective, so the Ibex 450 may not appeal to all riders, but Ryan thought it looked good in-person. Chinese bikes have certainly come a long way from the knock-off aesthetics of the early 2000s.

: The launch took place on the island of Palawan, and it was a very good representation of what you’ll see on an international adventure trip, as you can see here, with water crossings and big animals to dodge!

: Ergos weren’t perfect for 5-foot-8 Ryan, but he said bars, footpegs and levers were all in the right place for a rider his size. The tank pushed his knees out a bit while standing.

: Some of the on-screen text can be small, but at least the bike has a TFT screen with Bluetooth compatibility and over-the-air updates. The switchgear is also used on other CFMOTO machines.

: In closing: A very interesting option in the ADV world. Ryan says every CFMOTO he rides is better than the last, and this bike continues that trend. And now there’s a rumor of an even better-spec’d Rally version coming in the future…